


Stroke of Midnight

by TryxeyHobbitses



Series: A Lifetime in Snippets [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Friendship, High School, This at least is still pretty canon compliant, We know you are in love even if you don't girl., Will Probably End Up Being an AU, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 05:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11867361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TryxeyHobbitses/pseuds/TryxeyHobbitses
Summary: It is New Year's Eve of their senior year of high school. Iris is at a party without Barry.Based on the prompt: It is almost midnight...is this really where you want to be?





	Stroke of Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is going to be part of a series where each story will build on each other...but each story should be able to stand alone as well. Each story is going to be based on a prompt that I am taking from a "prompt a day" book. The prompt will be in the summary of each. Each will be a relatively quick write, so...pardon any errors.

Stroke of Midnight

Prompt: Midnight on New Year’s Eve...Is this where you want to be? 

 

She’d been watching the clock all night long. She had come to this party because she had been invited and this was the first time that her dad had allowed her out so late, she felt like she had to come if only to prove that she could. She was 17, and a senior in her stride enjoying the last of her winter break as she watches the countdown timer being projected on the screen hanging on the living room wall. She was a little tired, she had been having fun when she first got here, and now she was mostly riding on the wave of excitement at simply being out of the house. All of the conversations had circled around and now everyone was talking about the same things again. She didn’t want to leave. She wasn’t going to leave yet. It was a matter of principle. 

1 hour to go and she really starts to feel...wrong, like she is out of place. She looks around at the people surrounding her...she really wishes he had come, she had accepted the invitation believing that he would come, he ALWAYS came, but this time he had declined. She had been hurt and hadn’t really understood why he wouldn’t want to “embrace adulthood” with her. It was his senior year as well and she wanted him to enjoy it...with her. They always did everything together, he was her best friend and had been their entire lives at this point. Since he moved in they had never been apart for any major holidays. She marked his absence keenly. If he was here with her, she knows that she wouldn’t even be considering leaving before midnight. They would be holed up in some corner talking and laughing, or she would be encouraging him to be social while she dragged him around from group to group of partygoers. She wasn’t having fun and it was his fault. Why didn’t he just come? She was not going to leave. It was a matter of principle. 

30 minutes to go and she realizes that this is all wrong. Everyone was now getting serious about nailing down who they were going to be kissing at midnight and she couldn’t think of a single one of these guys here that she wanted to kiss. This was her first all night party and it was New Year’s Eve and she should be celebrating raucously, but instead she is standing in the kitchen, chatting idly, and trying not to call him. What was wrong with her? How is it possible that she is missing him so much? It hasn’t even been three hours since she last saw him as she left the house. He had hugged her and told her to have fun. She had tried one last time to convince him to come with her, but for the first time ever, really EVER, he had given her a hard pass. She couldn’t believe it, she had always been able to convince him to do anything, ever since they were little kids, he had always been eager to be involved as long as she was. He had stubbornly stated that he just wanted to spend a quiet night in with her dad and just be at home like every year. He had tried to convince her to stay. In the end after a lingering hug, he had told her she was beautiful tonight...and well every night. She had laughed just a little bit and left. He had stayed. She was not going back. She was not going to leave. It was a matter of principle. 

15 minutes to go and she knew that if she left now, she could make it home just in time. Darn it, she wanted to leave. She wanted to be home with him and her dad. Her family. When he hadn’t come, she should have cancelled. If he had come she wouldn’t even have to worry about the press of guys becoming increasingly drunk and trying to convince her to hook up with them at midnight. She didn’t need help rebuffing anyone, she was more than capable, but it was different when she could just lean into him and be left alone. She knew the rumors floating around about them, easy access...there’s no way...always together. It wasn’t like that, but most assumed that they were at least hooking up occasionally and whenever she felt she needed to be left alone she wasn’t ashamed to admit that she would silently play into everyone’s suspicions by holding his hand as they walked or cuddling into his arm at a party. He was her best friend and he did this for her with no complaints and no questions asked. She didn’t want to leave. It was a matter of...she walked to the door and left. 

1 minute to go and she gets back to the house to see him sitting on the porch waiting for her like he knew she’d come back. She shakes her head and walks up to the porch slowly, training her eyes on him. She walks slowly, she sees the exact moment that his eyes light on hers and they smile at each other. The rightness of this, of walking toward him is exactly what she was missing. She sighs as he holds out his hand waiting for her. She walks up the few steps onto the porch and takes his hand. When she reaches the top step he pulls her into a hug, “I hoped that you would come back, it wasn’t right without you.” She nods, she knows the feeling. It never felt right, them being apart. But they were together again now. Still holding hands they walk inside as the final countdown starts. When the clock strikes midnight, they turn to each other, embrace and she kisses him sweetly, gently on the cheek.

“Happy New Year, Bear, I’m glad I came home too.”


End file.
